Yeah I'd say too that GBB are making better beer than Brewdog, especially their pilot stuff. And the bars have way more guest taps.

Agree on Irish brewing. I think the expansions of breweries like GBB and 8 Degrees have really upped the quality of their beers and the bigger, new breweries like Wicklow Wolf and Rye River are really good too.

Wicklow Wolf had some beautiful trial brews pouring from a kegerator (sp?) at the Irish Craft Beer fair in the RDS a Coconut Porter that tasted as good as you'd hope and a surprisingly good Oak Aged IPA. No names on either so they may never get mass produced.

Do Rye River do their own branded stuff? The Crafty stuff is v good for the price, but McGagrles was poor. May have to try them again though, because the very first bottle of Full Sail I tried years ago was awful.

Speaking of kegerators I just added a second tap to mine this morning.

McGargles have always been one of the better Irish craft brewers. The big bangin IPA has actually been about for ages and it really is great. Drank it one night on draft all night, was in absolute bits the day after, strong wee fuck of a brew. They also do the entry level cheap IPAs for Dunnes called grafters, very nice for the price.

They do the crafty range in Lidl too. I tasted some of their stuff when it first came out and it was poor. They've gotten way better though. I think there is a steep early learning curve for people starting their own brewery.